One in 20 workers punished for email gaffes

Men more likely to send inappropriate emails.

One in 20 office workers have sent inappropriate emails and as a result have been punished or fired.

According to research conducted to mark the launch of the TV adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal on DVD and Blu-ray, 20 per cent of employees said they had sent an email in 'the heat of the moment' they later regretted. A third admitted they had hit 'Reply all' instead of just 'Reply' when responding to a message with an inappropriate or angry comment.

Furthermore, 10 per cent claimed they had accidentally sent an email criticising a colleague to the person that was the subject of the email. Email was also the popular way of ending a relationship for one in ten of those surveyed.

Men are more likely to make email gaffes, with 28 percent admitting to their email faux pas compared to just 17 percent of women.